Horary astrology: can I make money from blogging?

Hooray, a cosmic challenge from Beth Turnage! She’s just answered a horary question for a client who wants to know if she should start a blog; but when I pointed out that Beth’s software was giving her the wrong ascendant, she replied, “Then how would you interpret the chart you propose? I’m sure Catherine would appreciate a second opinion.” Can do, Beth. And awaaaaaay we go…

Question: I’m thinking about starting a blog that deals with world religions and how their beliefs can help us deal with emotions. Would this be a good venture or would I just be spinning my wheels?

(Chart data: 17 June 2008, 6:05pm EDT, Middletown, CT 41N34 72W39. This is the time and place of the question as Beth originally received it. Click to enlarge the chart.)

A late degree of Scorpio is rising, so the querent is signified by Mars and the Moon (co-ruler of the querent in a horary question). Some believe that a late degree rising means the question comes too late or is being asked from desperation, as if the querent has exhausted her other options. It does NOT mean that the chart is not radical, i.e. unfit to judge. You can judge a chart even when it has a late degree rising; it may simply mean that the moment for the opportunity has passed.

What signifies the question? She is not asking, “Should I start a blog?” for its own sake. She wants to know, “Would this be a good venture?” In other words, “Can I profit from blogging?”

In questions of profit from a given endeavor, we must turn the chart and look at the 2nd house from the house that stands for that endeavor. So, “How much can I earn from this job?” The 2nd from the 10th (the job) is the 11th (the salary). “How much can I get from my ex-husband?” The 2nd from the 7th (the ex) is the 8th (his money).

“Can I profit from blogging?” Well, what is blogging? Is it one’s creative art (the 5th house)? Or is it more like publishing one’s knowledge (the 9th house)? (It’s not the 3rd house, as that is related to one’s elementary-level knowledge. John Frawley points out in The Horary Textbook that you could ask something like “Can I profit from my ability to read and write?”, so the knowledge there would be in the 3rd and its profit in the 4th.)

Let us say in this case that blogging is an expression of one’s knowledge, and that the querent is hoping to profit from her knowledge of world religions. So, the blog itself is the 9th house and its ruler; profit from the blog is the 10th house and its ruler. The 9th in this chart has Leo on the cusp, so the blog is ruled by the Sun. Virgo is on the MC, so its profit is ruled by Mercury.

Now you need to find out two things: is there any money to be had (look at the condition of the significator of the profit), and is any of it coming to the querent (see if said money is forming an aspect or otherwise connected to anything representing the querent or her money – the 1st or the 2nd house).

Let’s start with the first part. Profit is ruled by Mercury. How is Mercury? Wow – by essential dignity, its sign placement, it’s very strong! Mercury in this chart is in its own sign, Gemini, so at first glance we would think there is a huge reserve to be tapped. The better the essential dignity of the planet, the better the quality of what it represents. So this Mercury is potentially rich.

But that alone doesn’t tell the whole story. How is Mercury by accidental dignity? Not so good. At 13 Gemini 05, it is still retrograde, just 6 minutes of arc from stationing. It’s moving incredibly slowly, which is very uncomfortable for the winged messenger, and it’s retrograde: traveling “in the wrong direction.” The querent’s own expression “spinning my wheels” is a particularly apt description of the image we get here: a traveler that’s trying to get moving but only becomes more stuck.

So, the money could be good, but something about it is molasses-slow and moving in the wrong direction. Now let’s address the second condition: can we connect the money to the querent somehow? To do so, we want to find an astrological connection between Mercury, the profit, and something representing the querent or her own money: so, 1st house, Ascendant, Mars (ruling the 1st), 2nd house (her money), 2nd house cusp, or ruler of the 2nd (Jupiter).

1. Is Mercury located in the 1st? No.
2. Is Mercury applying to aspect the Ascendant? No. It stations at 12 Gemini 59, long before it can get anywhere near Taurus, the opposite sign to Scorpio.
3. Is Mercury applying to aspect Mars? No, there is a separating sextile between Mercury at 13 Gemini and Mars at 21 Leo. Separating aspects won’t help us. We want an applying aspect to describe what’s coming in the future.
4. Is Mercury located in the 2nd? No.
5. Is Mercury applying to aspect the 2nd house cusp? No. The 2nd house cusp is 26 Sagittarius; Mercury is approaching its station, and for these purposes, we do not carry it through station and allow it to reverse direction to perfect the aspect. Station is the end of the road.
6. Is Mercury applying to aspect Jupiter, lord of the 2nd? No.

So, unfortunately, it doesn’t look as if blogging would be a good source of income for the querent. That doesn’t necessarily mean that she should completely drop the idea. Mars, her significator, is ruled by the Sun, signifying the blog – it’s clear she loves this topic and the knowledge and is more motivated by sharing what she knows than by the money. But if profit is the point of the effort, she may be better advised to seek other ways of bringing in some cash.

Questions, comments, clarifications? I’d love to hear from you.